Vegan Outreach: Bumbershoot

Wil, Claudine, Bryan, Rabbit, Anna- Lynne, Andre, Michael, Rachel and David helped spread the message of cruelty-free living Labor Day weekend at Bumber-shoot. Trillions (well it seemed like it) of people packed themselves into Seattle Center to listen to Stone Temple Pilots. And, well, I guess a few people came to see the other bands, too. We gave out lots of Why Vegan? pamphlets and Veg Restaurant Guides, and we got lots of “Thanks!/Perfect!/Hey cool!”‘s from people. Tabling was real easy and smooth, and we got more members, too.

One guy said he doesn’t eat hardly any meat…except for bacon:

“Dude, I LOOOOOOOVE bacon! I mean, if they made cigarettes out of bacon, I would totally NOT quit smoking next month!”

We all thought it’d be much worse. Protesting a bull-riding event at the rodeo, we figured we were gonna get spit on and shouted at. I expected I’d at least get something thrown at me. My mom simply said sadly, “Well, I hope you don’t get beat-up, is all.”

It was a beautiful day on the ferry over to Bremerton. Outside the entrance to the Xtreme Bulls event at the Kitsap Rodeo, a couple of cops came over to us: “Hi–how many of you are coming today? Just you three? Well, we heard you were coming today, so thought we’d come over and say hi. If you need anything, or if anybody gives you a hard time, we’ll be right over there.”

Rachel got out her sign saying, “www.rodeocruelty.com,” I held one with “Don’t Support Animal Cruelty,”and Patty worked her crowd magic calling out, “Free Rodeo Reality FLY-errrrrrs! Get yer free FLYYY-errrrrrs!” Though it did rain hard on us, and most people who passed by chuckled or mumbled something to themselves, without a doubt every single person who attended the bull-riding contest that day saw us and read our signs exhorting them to think about the animals they were about to see. Even if all we did was plant little seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the “entertainment” they came to see that day, then we were successful in bringing attention to animal suffering.

There were some gems for comments, though:

A tall lanky guy in a cowboy hat makes a beeline for us before his girlfriend steers him away. He blurts out, “You’re missin’ the f-‘n point!” (Rachel leans over and mutters to me, “Yeah, I guess we are, buddy.”)

A dad says to his 2-year-old daughter who he’s pushing along in a stroller, “Let’s support animal cruelty, Sally! Yes, let’s go watch some animal cruelty.” (What must his daughter think of this?)

Some young kids slouch by and one yells out, “Go back to Woodstock, if you can’t kill anything, ya HIPPIES!” (Rachel couldn’t stop laughing at this one.)

Truth is, the huge size and fierce appearance of a bull does not make him impervious to pain. Bulls receive the worst abuse from electric shocking in rodeos. Cattle are particularly sensitive to electricity, and rodeo animal abusers use that to their advantage to make calm, docile bulls appear to be wild killers.

If these supposedly “mean” animals were “born to buck,” they wouldn’t have tormenting straps tightened around their flanks, or get blasted with 5,000 volts of electricity from a Power-Mite electric prod to a confined bull. In rodeos the prods are often used on animals in pens who are unable to move or even turn around. The rodeo people use the pain of the prod to force the animals to “perform” — to run or buck against their nature and beyond their natural abilities.

Rodeos victimize and abuse animals for profit. These animals are trucked around the country in intensely hot trailers, kicked, hit, and shocked in their pens, then forced to act wild, run and buck through pain, fear and torment.

Our most energetic, lively discussion yet, while we all ate vegan pizza at Pizza Pi. We learned that the University of Washington’s Regional Primate Research Center (WRPRC) has more than one animal experimentation facility in Seattle, and even owns a breeding facility in Indonesia that captures monkeys from the wild, all at taxpayer expense. Their baby monkey research lab sits near Magnuson Park, and their primate virology lab faces the Olympic Sculpture Park. UW has been genetically engineering monkeys to be more susceptible to getting particular diseases for their experiments. We also made plans for building public awareness and media coverage of these abuses.

U.W.’s Washington Regional Primate Research Center (WRPRC) is located just across the street from the Olympic Sculpture Park downtown. It plays a major part in the torture and killing of primates every year. UW is the most federally-funded animal research facility in the country, receiving over $270 million last year from NIH. The university holds captive over 16,000 animals, including 3,000 primates.

At the Primate Center, UW researchers cut holes into macaque monkeys’ skulls. Recording cylinders are attached to their skulls, so that electrodes may be fed directly into the brain. The monkeys are then confined to restraint chairs and forced to perform behavioral experiments. Juice or water is often used as a reward in these experiments. To make the experiments more effective the primates are deprived of fluids except when they are performing the experiments.

These experiments have been going on for decades with no conclusive results. In addition, these projects are very similar to one another, potentially duplicating experimental procedures.

The rest of his friends crowd around, looking at our literature. One guy takes a look at Bailee and me, then says, “But what do you do for protein? Is it really a myth that you can’t get enough protein if you don’t eat meat? I mean, you both look pretty healthy and everything.”

So that’s an opening to talk about how it’s really possible to care about animal suffering AND be happy and healthy at the same time. For these kids, maybe they’ve always thought they couldn’t do anything to help the tortured animals who die for their food. And maybe they’ve never met vegans who were happy to answer their questions about how they go about leaving factory farming behind.

Lots of people helped out at the NARN table at Hempfest. Rachel (above), Mark (left), Bryan (below), Patty, Carrie, Claudine, Rabbit, Andy, Jason, Andre, Bailee, and David handed out over a thousand Why Vegan? pamphlets. It was a real success in spreading the cruelty-free lifestyle message.

Little baby piglet Emma Sue, who was saved from being a factory farmed pig, is growing bigger by the day, galloping around and making barking noises. Maybe it’s because she and pug dog Tibbet have taken to each other like Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn, running around the sanctuary creating mischief.

Maria, Emma, and I cleared out old straw from the barn, while Margaret and Jason scooped up poop in the fields. After a huge country potluck provided by Judy, she led us on a walk through the forest, with all the dogs in tow, to the sanctuary’s two cabins, and we took turns riding the zip line. All the dogs took a splash in the pigs’ hidden forest pond. I can’t wait to go back there.

Calendar

January2019

NARN's board of directors meets monthly to discuss our campaigns and administrative issues. Guests are welcome to attend if we have enough time on our agenda.

If you wish to have an agenda item added to the NARN Board Meeting, please email info@narn.org at least a day in advance. You can also send us a message on Facebook anytime or even the day of the meeting and we'll get back to you. All NARN Board Meetings are held in Seattle.

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by our desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join us in providing free, educational information to the public about the dangers of supporting backyard breeding practices and puppy mills, the importance of spaying and neutering pets, the time and money it takes to responsibly care for a living creature, and the positive effects of screening pet owners through application processes.

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2093159060741059/

Come join us for a delicious brunch at the fabulous Celest Cafe AND write some letters for animals.

NARN provides the stationery, pens, stamps, sample letters, and ideas for what to write -- just bring yourself. You can even bring your laptop if you'd prefer to type or email your letters!

Why letter writing? Letter writing is a simple way to make change for the animals! At our letter writing events, we write for many different reasons: opposition to the creation of new animal laboratories, support for sending animals to sanctuary, promotion of vegan events and issues through letters to the media, and raising the spirits of activists and comrades who have been jailed for their pro-animal and political actions!

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 6pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/512061562622307/

The University of Washington's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) will be meeting to discuss various research protocols (study designs). This is your chance to voice your opinion about the research on animals that goes on at the UW. Please come and speak for the animals!
The meetings are held at the South Campus Center; Room #342 (in between San Juan Road & Columbia Road); behind the Magnuson Health Sciences Center (1925 N.E. Pacific St) )
http://www.washington.edu/maps/

Unfortunately, they frequently re-schedule or cancel their meetings in an attempt to avoid the public, so please call the Public Affairs Office at 206-543-9180 to make sure the meeting is still happening at the given time.
You can also check out their calendar here (copy & paste link into your browser)
http://oaw.washington.edu/iacuc-meeting-schedule/

This month we will be checking out Travelers Thali House. They have tons of vegan options. See their menu here:
http://www.travelersthalihouse.com/Menu102014.html
The Social Discussion Group is a casual event. Drinkers and non-drinkers are welcome, and you don't have to be vegetarian to participate. We hope you'll join us! Questions? Contact rachel[at]narn[dot]org

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/406570843449273/

La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza will be offering a tasty Vegan Tamales Cooking Class in partnership with the Food Empowerment Project! Now is your chance to learn how to make vegan tamales from a master tamalera! The tamales are prepared in the handmade and traditional fashion using cultural ingredients. Sweet sangrias, beer and wine will also be served and is included in the ticket price.

Class will begin promptly at 10:00 AM in the kitchen at El Centro de la Raza. Classes typically take 2.5 to 3 hours long. All cooking supplies and ingredients will be provided, but please bring your own apron.

The money for the La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza Latin Cooking Classes go to fund El Centro de la Raza's Senior programs.

For updates on this event see
https://www.facebook.com/events/2404477662895760/